Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Daniel Therrien, has issued a warning against the use of telemedicine platforms, which are gaining in popularity in this era of pandemic. He is also concerned about the risks inherent in tracking applications and e-learning.
In his view, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which was introduced before technology giants like Facebook arrived on the scene, does not provide citizens with adequate protection. Canada should improve this situation by ensuring a level of protection similar to that offered in the European Union and California.
The situation is all the more worrisome because, if this is not done, gaps in the law could have an impact on trade agreements between Canada and the European Union. In fact, the EU is currently planning to review its trading partners’ privacy legislation.
Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia are currently reviewing their own privacy laws. The situation could become rather complicated if the laws in some provinces were stricter than those in force federally.